Dashing Through The Snow
by KatieGirl97
Summary: When Father Christmas enlists Dumbledore for assistance in preparing for Christmas Eve, Dumbledore volunteers his students that stayed for the holiday. When Hermione Granger is partnered up with Draco Malfoy she's in for a ride.
1. Dumbledore's Assignment

**Chapter 1: Dumbledore's Assignment**

AN: Okay this is the first chapter.. duh. Anyways, I will hopefully be finishing this within the next 24-48 hours. It should be 5-10 chapters... Enjoy!

Hermione's POV:  
As I make my way to the Great Hall for dinner I look around, wondering why it was so quiet. Today was the day the students left to go home for the holiday's. Hogwarts already seemed to miss the inhabitants that gave it life. The portraits mumbling was dulled, and the ghosts were quiet. The castle creaked in loneliness. Just like me, lonely. Harry and Ron are off doing something or other. Something that doesn't include me. So I'm left to walk the halls in silence, making my way to get something to eat.

The hall that usually holds four tables, one for each of the houses, instead holds one large round table. The table looks ancient but well built, possibly surviving with the assistance of magic. Maybe it is the table of legend, the one which King Arthur and his knights sat at. It seemed that the table was intended to promote unity, because as I enter the room I notice that people are sitting Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and then Slytherin. Nobody looked very happy with their seating arrangements. At one part of the table I see Cho Chang morosely picking at her food sitting next to Parkinson. They couldn't possibly have chosen these seats, so how do I know where I should sit. The second I step closer to the table my name lights up in a name tag. I'm assigned to sit next to Hannah Abbott. The Slytherin side is left empty.

"Hello Hannah." I say as I take my seat, "How're you?"

"Oh hi Hermione, It was alright." she replies looking up at me. "I wonder why we were assigned seats?"

"Me too. Oh well you know McGonnagall. She's following in Dumbledore's footsteps with the whole house unity thing." I say and then laugh quietly. She chuckles too and then freezes as she looks over my shoulder. Puzzled, I turn too to look where she's staring. It's Draco Malfoy. Headed straight for us.

"Lucky us." I whisper to her. She nods her head without meeting my eyes. She quickly gets distracted though, when Padma Patil sits down next to her.

"Malfoy," I nod, and turn back to my plate. It's still empty, but so is the table. How am I supposed to eat?

"Roasted chicken, mashed potato and gravy," I hear Malfoy mutter. His plate slowly fills up with his order.

"Beans on toast please." I am pleased to see that my request is met. My meal arrives to perfection. "Thank you," I whisper.

"You know the elves can't hear you Granger." His low voice says straight into my ear.

"I like to think they can feel it." And it's true. I always say thank you, just in case they do hear me say it, or can just tell.

He shakes his head, and gives the hint of something that could be a smile. If it wasn't Draco Malfoy, the blonde ferret, I would definitely have suspected it was a smile.

We eat the rest of our meals in silence. On my left Hannah and Padma are engrossed in conversation while from my side you could only hear the scrapes of forks scratching plates.

The food disappeared as a clap echoes through the hall. All of the students who have stayed for Christmas look up to the front where McGonnagall is standing. Her stern and commanding presence is the focus of everybody's attention.

"Hello everyone. I trust you all had a delicious dinner. Now before you eat your dessert there is somebody who would like to have a few words." At her words everyone looks around, wondering who could possibly be the person she was referring to. A portrait is summoned and placed almost exactly where the Headmistress was standing. It's Albus Dumbledore.

"Welcome students. It's a pleasure to see you all. I hope you like the current seating arrangements. Now onto more important matters. This morning an old friend of mine contacted me for help. He needs a group of older students willing to go and assist him with various odd jobs. I of course volunteered the seventh and eighth year students." At that a groan echoes through the hall. "Since I know all of you will be most willing to help an old man in need."

"What will we get out of it?" All heads turn to the person who yelled it out, Theodore Nott.

"Absolutely nothing. Christmas is the time of giving you see. Anyways this will start tomorrow. At breakfast tomorrow morning you need to sit in the seats you were assigned upon entering this evening. They will be your team. You will be given two jobs for the day and portkeyed to the location. When your jobs for the day have been completed you will have five minutes to meet the rest of your group and portkey back to Hogwarts. Are we clear? Right now happy christmas."

The former headmaster's portrait vanished and dessert appeared on the table. For a few seconds everyone was sitting in silence trying to digest the information they were just told. Suddenly the entire hall sprung into life, everybody talking. "What do you think we will have to do?- Who do you think we will work for? Etc"

"That blasted man. He's done it again. I just wanted a relaxing Christmas but instead I get this. The injustice." Malfoy's eyes blazed as he ranted to himself quickly and quietly.

I was struck with surprise. I would have to be in a group with Draco Malfoy, the evil Slytherin, the bully, the ferret for an undetermined length of time. Now while we have been getting along pretty well since the new year started, (we were avoiding each other) this strained civil relationship would not continue with us having to interact with each other. Daily.

Time seemed blur as I sat there and thought about what was going to happen. I was snapped out of it long after the dessert disappeared. I did not notice the stormy grey eyes watching me, appraising the situation. Instead I sat there and thought, tried to piece together the mystery. When I did finally snap out of it I noticed Malfoy's hand on my arm shaking me from my thoughts.

"Time to go Granger." I focused in on his face. "I guess we will be seeing a lot more of each other then." With that he pushed out his chair and stepped back from the table. "Night."

I dazedly walked up to the common room. I strode through the semi-deserted space that was usually so full bursting with people and noise. I went through the motions of preparing for bed without being properly aware of my actions. The only thought echoing through my mind was _I am going to be seeing a lot more of Draco Malfoy._ The problem was I couldn't tell how I felt about that.

AN: So that was the first chapter. What do you guys think? Yeah.. Please review :)


	2. Meeting Nick

Chapter 2: Meeting Nick

HPOV

Breakfast had yet to be served when Harry, Ron, and I walked into the Great Hall this morning. So instead of taking our spots that scattered around the table, we stood by the door and talked.

"I can't believe Dumbledore!" Ron said. "Do you know who's in my group? Parkinson, Cho, and Ernie. I always sort of thought Dumbledore liked me a bit. Turns out I was way off."

"Oh don't complain Ronald. Don't you want to know who we have to work for?" I cut in, rolling my eyes at his rant.

"Yeah Ron. Hermione has Malfoy. She wins." Harry says, completely disregarding everything I just said. "I have the traitor, Zacharias Smith, and Nott."

"I had forgotten about Marietta Edgecombe. Brilliant work with the spell though Hermione. If you look really hard you can still see sneak on her forehead." Now that I think about it there is still a faint mark no matter what she does to cover it up. I can't help feeling slightly proud of myself that. Besides, it isn't like she didn't deserve it.

"Maybe it's someone like Nicolas Flamel," Harry mused. Now that was a possibilty. What other kind of friend could Dumbledore have. It was likely to be someone old and important.

As we had been talking the hall had slowly filled up with students, now almost everybody was here. The younger students were in a corner sitting at their own table all watching us with eager eyes, waiting to see what we would do.

"Ahem," McGonnagall coughs in a very Umbridge-like way. Everybody settled into their seats. "Can I have your attention please, I would like to begin handing out assignments. Before I start can you please do one thing. In your groups I would like you to partner up." As she said that dreaded sentence I saw Padma and Hannah shuffle closer to each other and smile. Great. I was stuck with Malfoy. How did I know something like this would happen. It's like all of my worst nightmares, we just need some clowns and dementors and then we're sorted.

McGonnagall placed two folded pieces of parchment in front of our group, Padma and Hannah quickly grabbed one. Malfoy and I reluctantly turned to each other we both reached for our assignment. I got there first and opened it between us. It was empty except for a number that was counting down from five. Malfoy and I were the last to open, so we got to look around in wonder while our classmates disappeared one after another.

Just before the portkey whisked us away to our next location I caught sight of some first year muggleborns looking at us in wonder. My insides twist and turn as we move. In under ten seconds we were transported to a large room much like the one we had just left, with it's high ceiling and large Christmas tree in the corner. Both trees were extravagant and clearly decorated using magic. This tree was dotted with glass ornaments, each ornament playing out a scene. All of my classmates were doing the same as I was, looking around in awe. Who could possibly live here?

A small cough echoed through the hall, I searched for the source. In front of me was a small elf. This was a weird elf. In all of the books that I've read I've never seen such an elf, yet somehow I instinctively knew that it was in fact an elf.

"Hello. I am Jingle. If you could follow me please." With that the elf turned on it's heel and led us through the corridors up to a large wooden door. It knocked three times and the doors opened by themselves. I wonder who we will be inside. All of my classmates and I huddled through the doors and stood around the desk. Looking to my left I realized that I was standing pressed against Malfoy. I stepped away from as much as I could, it was crowded after all.

The chair began to turn as a deep, jolly voice rang out, "Albus was right you will be perfect. Hello boys and girls, I am Nick. Thank you for coming to assist me." Nick was dressed almost all in red with a white tie. He was the old wise man I had been picturing. He had a long, white, wispy beard that hung down to the centre of his chest. He was plump, and had obvious smile lines. Like he was constantly smiling. "Now please open your parchment and your job will be in the middle of the page. We will be having a break for lunch at exactly 12 o'clock so please make your way back to the Great Hall at this time. The day will be over either at 3:30 or when you complete your task. Your portkeys will leave at exactly this time. Any questions?"

"Yeah," I heard Harry say from somewhere in the room. No matter how hard I looked I couldn't see him anywhere, the room was so full of people.

"At the front on the right," Malfoy whispered in my ear. A quick glance showed me he was right. I could see Harry's messy hair up there.

I breathed a sigh of relief, "Thanks."

My attention was brought back to my best friend's voice, "How are we supposed to find our way around this place?"

"Good question m'boy. You'll find a map on the bag of your parchment. Just tell it where you want to go and tap it with your wand, it'll light up the way. Any more?" There was a moment of silence. "No? Okay well thank you, and good luck." We were dismissed. The students filed back out into the corridor.

Once we were a sufficient distance away Malfoy and I opened our parchment up.

_Your job is to assist in manufacturing room 34B:Giraffe. Follow the directions on the map. You must be there by 9:30._

We're going to be making giraffes? What? I flip the map over. Oh it's not far from here. Just straight down this corridor, one right, straight and then a left. I stride off in that direction, behind me I can hear Malfoy swear and then dash after me. It took him twenty seconds to catch up to me.

"Granger are you sure we are heading the right way?" Malfoy questioned.

I replied, "Of course I'm sure. I have a great sense of direction, and besides we do have a map." I looked down at the map. Oops. I may have been leading us completely in the wrong direction. Like the exact opposite. Oh well. I cannot admit this to him.

He looked at me in his usual Malfoy smug way, "How about I take the map? Maybe we will actually end up there by 9:30." He gives me a quick smile that I almost miss. Within ten minutes of making our way through the halls we reached our destination. With a flourish he pushed open the door, hidden behind it was just over twenty elves working hard building something. When the door clanged open they all jumped and looked up at us, they all smile.

One with a clipboard runs up smiling, "Mister and Miss has come to help us! I am Twinkle and this is Star and..." Twinkle continued on and on pointing out and introducing every elf in the room. Malfoy and I share a look of amusement. "Mister and Miss are in charge of this station. Star will pass you the giraffe shells and Mister and Miss will stuff them."

"Twinkle?" Malfoy interrupts, "You do know you can call us by our names right? I am Draco, and this is-"

"Hermione." I smiled. "You can just call me Hermione."

"Nice to meet you Dray-co and Her-my-ownee. Now here is what you need to do." Twinkle then started explaining the necessary steps to complete the toy giraffes. Then he explained how to make them magical and what spells to use. It really was remarkable. These elves were adding in a button, that when you pressed it they start to move. Even though I'm eighteen I would love to have one of these. Once she finished explaining we began working. Time passed by really quickly at first, while it was new and exciting, but after awhile it grew monotonous. I know I was relieved, and it looked like Malfoy was too, when it was 11:50 and Twinkle told us that we should go for lunch.

We started to make our way back to the Great Hall, this time I didn't even attempt to lead the way, instead following half a step behind Malfoy. When we reached it we separated without even looking back at each other. I walked over to Ron, Harry wasn't there yet. He was sitting with Ernie MacMillan, they were animatedly discussing something. I sat down beside them and they stopped talking.

"How was Malfoy?" Ron asked disgustedly.

"Fine."

"Fine, how can the ferret be fine?" He scoffed.

"It actually wasn't that bad Ron. How was your morning?" I asked.

"Great we got to help in the kitchens and taste test their recipes. So basically it was perfect!" Ron enthused.

"Hey guys," Harry said tiredly. He looked exhausted, yet also happy. It was now exactly 12:04pm and there was no food on the table.

Nick stood up at the head of the room, "I would like to thank you again for coming out to help me. As this is your first day I will allow you to leave now. Please make your way back to your groups and portkey back to Hogwarts. See you all tomorrow."

Malfoy and I locked eyes across the room and started walking towards each other, never looking away from each other. We met and touched the paper and then it was all bright. When we landed at Hogwarts in the exact same spot we had been in many hours ago. The second the world stopped spinning we turned on our heels and walked away from each other, without even looking back.

Leaving the door I met up with Harry and Ron. Ron was talking about a fight that took place between Cho and Pansy.

"Who do you think Nick is then?" Ron asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" I said. "Don't you know?"

"That's just you Hermione. We can't all be this brainy." Harry teased.

"Well he's Father Christmas of course. Santa Claus? Pere Noel?" I informed them.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, and doing typical holiday things. I was of course working on my Arithmancy essay.

But before I went to sleep that night, I lay in bed and thought of what we would be doing the next day. And how Malfoy would surprise me in the new day.

_AN: So that's it. I hope everyone had a great Christmas._


End file.
